July 11, 2017 Credit: Ryan Melaugh

Smoking, lack of exercise, bad diet and our genes are all well-known risk factors for heart disease, cancer and diabetes. But, as researchers are beginning to understand, the environment in the womb as we first begin to grow may also determine our future.

The history of science is littered with self-experimenters so passionate about their work that they used themselves as human guinea pigs, however ill-advisedly.

Sir Joseph Barcroft (18721947) was one such character. Professor of Physiology at Cambridge, he was best known for his studies of the oxygenation of blood. He also led mountain expeditions where he analysed the oxygen content of his blood and that of other expedition members.

In the middle of his career, Barcroft built an airtight glass chamber in his laboratory in Cambridge. There, he could live and exercise at oxygen levels equivalent to 16,000 feet. Like many self-experimentation stories, things did not always go to plan: in one experiment, he had to be rescued by colleagues after spending six days in the chamber and reportedly turning blue.

Despite his occasional misguided venture, Barcroft's scientific legacy was significant and so, in his honour, the University of Cambridge has recently opened a new state-of-the-art facility in his name. Research at the Barcroft Centre focuses on farm animals mainly sheep and chickens, but also pigs to model important aspects of human physiology.

The Centre's work spans several areas including Professor Jenny Morton's studies on understanding fatal neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease and a similar childhood disease, Batten disease, and Dr Frances Henson's work on bone diseases such as osteoarthritis.

However, a significant amount of its work focuses on how we develop in the womb and how this programmes us for increased risk of heart disease in later life. This seems fitting as, in later years, Barcroft became interested in fetal development, and in particular the effects of low levels of oxygen on the unborn baby in the womb.

Carrying on this legacy are Professor Dino Giussani and his postdocs Dr Kim Botting and Dr Youguo Niu. All are also members of the Centre for Trophoblast Research (CTR), which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary and focuses on the interactions between the pregnant mother and the fetus, as mediated by the placenta.

Low levels of oxygen or hypoxia can occur in high-altitude pregnancies. But, as Giussani explains, there are far more common causes. "Smoking, pre-eclampsia, even maternal obesity these all increase the risk of hypoxia for the mother's baby, as do inherited genetic variants," he says.

Housed in the Barcroft Centre is a suite of hypoxia chambers superficially similar, perhaps, to that in which Barcroft placed himself, but nowadays far more sophisticated (and much safer). These are not intended for humans, but rather for animals, each of which is very closely monitored, often remotely using technology developed by the team.

The smallest of these chambers doubles as an incubator for fertilised hens' eggs. Scientists can watch the development of the fetus directly. They can see how the heart grows, for example, how it is affected by hypoxia, and what effect potential drugs have in ameliorating possible complications.

Of course, we grow in a womb, with a placenta connecting us to our mother and controlling our nutritional intake. Mice and rats are the most commonly used mammals in research, but to model mammalian development in longer-living species with similar rates of development to humans, it is necessary to turn to larger animals. Sheep make a good model. Not only is their gestation and postnatal life more comparable to a human's than to a rat's, but a newborn lamb's physiology is also similar in a crucial way to a newborn baby's: its heart is mature at birth. By comparison, a newborn rat's heart is still very immature.

For part of gestation, the sheep are placed in hypoxia chambers, which contain finely controlled, lower-than-normal levels of oxygen. "This reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood of the pregnant sheep and thereby in her fetus," explains Botting. "This mimics conditions where the placenta is not working appropriately, as in pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia or maternal obesity."

The pregnant ewes deliver outside the chambers in normal ambient air. Once born, most of the lambs are put out to pasture in the paddocks adjacent to the Centre, where they grow to adulthood.

"The lambs which were hypoxic in the womb are not noticeably different," says Giussani. "The sheep will effectively live a normal life. That is the very point, because underneath, a silent killer is brewing; we want to investigate what happens as they grow because there is a theory that a complicated pregnancy may increase the risk of heart disease in the offspring later in life."

Professor Abby Fowden, Head of the School of the Biological Sciences, and another CTR member and user of the Barcroft Centre, says that the facilities are unique. "It's probably the only centre in the UK that has the capacity the surgical and care facilities to do these kinds of long-term developmental and neurodegenerative studies," she explains.

Like Giussani, Fowden and her collaborator Dr Alison Forhead are interested in how the early environment in the womb programmes us for disease in later life. They are particularly interested in the role of hormones in both the mother and the fetus and how they affect growth and development.

There are some conditions, such as hypothyroidism whereby the body produces insufficient thyroid hormones and maternal stress, that probably affect normal fetal development, but about which surprisingly little is understood. To model these conditions, Fowden and Forhead again turn to a range of mammals including sheep and pigs.

As Forhead explains, normal development of the fetus is crucial for health in later life. "In the case of many organs, you're born with a certain number of functional units, and in postnatal life you don't have the capacity to change that number. So the number you're born with has long-lasting consequences."

Take nephrons, for example. These are functional units of our kidneys that filter the blood and are responsible for how much salt and water is excreted into the urine. "If you're born with fewer nephrons, this has consequences for how much salt you retain, setting you up in later life to be at greater risk of developing high blood pressure."

What is apparent from this work is just how much of disease in later life is programmed in the womb. While our lifestyle our diet, how much we exercise after birth plays an important role in whether we develop heart disease or type 2 diabetes, for example, much of the risk is present before we are even born, programmed during pregnancy into how our DNA and tissues function.

And these effects don't necessarily stop at the next generation, as Giussani is discovering in his parallel work with rodents, which allows two or more generations to be studied in a comparably short time.

"If we look at the 'grandchildren' of pregnant rats that had a hypoxic pregnancy, we see this disease risk being passed on again, but in a really interesting way," he says. "A male 'child' passes on the cardiovascular risk to the 'grandchild', but female offspring confer protection. This is really exciting as inheritable protection against a future risk of heart disease has never been demonstrated in mammals."

In other words, while we must still recognise our own contribution to our risk of developing certain diseases, some of this risk was programmed into us before we were born: in fact, even before our parents were born. Work at the Barcroft Centre in monitoring animals for not just one generation but several will be vital for understanding the consequences of pregnancy not only for our children but also for their children and even their children's children.

Explore further: Study suggests that aging begins in the womb

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How your risk of heart disease stems back to your time in the womb - Medical Xpress

In addition to having county extension offices that serve the citizens of Texas, AgriLife Extension also has 12 Research and Extension Centers. The center that serves us here in Henderson County is located in Overton. It will be celebrating its 50th birthday on Wednesday, July 12.

For half a century, Texas A&M AgriLife Research has conducted trials and developed new innovations to help East Texas and Texas producers optimize their operations and to provide quality goods, including flowers, fruits and vegetables, and beef to consumers.

Overton center staff will welcome public, state and area officials and Texas A&M University System officials to the facility at 1:15 p.m., July 12, for presentations on its history and contributions to Texans.

Presentations by staff will be followed by a keynote address from John Sharp, Texas A&M System chancellor, and comments by Dr. Craig Nessler, AgriLife Research director, Dr. Doug Steele, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service director, and Dr. Mark Hussey, vice chancellor and dean for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, all from College Station. A reception will follow the ceremony.

Nessler said the 50-year milestone for the Overton center, and the future of AgriLife Research around the state should be celebrated by all Texans.

AgriLife Research scientists in Overton have made amazing contributions to the daily lives of Texans in the past 50 years, he said. Much of what we do as researchers is done behind the scenes, and without a desire for attention and accolades. But if you enjoy ornamental flowers or great lawn turf, produce or consume beef, or grow fruits and vegetables, theres a good chance youve benefited from AgriLife Research efforts in Overton.

AgriLife Research at the Overton center focuses on the problems and potential successes for residents and producers in East Texas, Long said. Developing new technology and techniques for producers and consumers is the mission of AgriLife Researchs statewide system.

Scientists at the center cover a wide range of disciplines, including horticulture, soil and crop science, animal science and related fields. The research trials performed by scientists at the center are provided to producers and consumers through coordinated efforts with AgriLife Extension specialists, and agents around the state who represent the educational arm of the system.

Dr. Charles Long, the centers director for the past 35 years, said research conducted at the center has made lasting impacts for Texas farmers and ranchers, various agricultural industries, the states economy and the residents who enjoy the end product.

Research activities at the center fit the highest regional agricultural priority, as available financial, facility and personnel resources allow, Long said.

The plan is to conduct research in areas of the highest need, while ensuring programs are sufficiently supported to provide a reasonably high probability of success, Long said.

Scientists at the Overton center conduct research in five disciplines soil science, pasture utilization, forage plant breeding, animal physiology and horticulture.

Over the past 50 years, AgriLife Researchers have developed and conducted trials on thousands of varieties of ornamental flowers, fruits and vegetables, and forages.

For example, Dr. Lloyd Nelson, AgriLife Research small grains breeder, developed Panterra and Axcella 2, turf-type annual ryegrasses bred specifically for winter overseeding of warm-season grasses on athletic fields and home lawns. The varieties have been used in the Olympics and World Cup and on Professional Golfers Association courses.

Nelson also developed forages. He is responsible for TAM 90, a ryegrass that combined cold and rust tolerance from other popular ryegrass varieties to create the winter forage. Since its creation in 1990, 85 million pounds of TAM 90 have been sold, enough to overseed 2.8 million acres.

Scientists also conduct research to identify physiological and temperamental traits in beef cattle that can optimize production for producers.

Dr. Ron Randel, an internationally known AgriLife Research physiologist, oversees several projects at the center focused on the reproductive physiology of tropically adapted cattle, the nutrition-reproduction interaction and most recently the temperament and stress responsiveness of beef cattle. He has researched the physiology and endocrinology of ovarian and pituitary functions in Brahman cattle for more than four decades.

Those two scientists are just a couple of examples of what AgriLife Research has been doing over the past five decades, Long said. There are success stories after success stories that continue to impact the lives of people all over the world, and they were written right here in Overton.

Kate Pittack is the Henderson County Extension Agent 4-H & Youth Development for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Contact her at: kate.pittack@ag.tamu.edu & visit our webpage at http://henderson.agrilife.org

Link:
Clover Connection: Extension research center celebrating 50 years - Athens Daily Review

Nagpur: Even as the health care system has seen rapid advancements over the years, the country has witnessed minuscule progress in the field of research in physiology. This is evident from the fact that in the year 2014-15, total 43,689 publications came out from all 421 medical colleges of the country, including eight premier institutions. The contribution of the department of physiology was, however, just 0.82%.

Revealing these figures, chancellor of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed University, Dr Ved Prakash Mishra, rued the fact that the field of physiology hasn't grown much in the country.

Mishra also talked about the poor research work being carried out in private clinics. "If we talk about our country's private clinical set-ups, the conversion of their clinical work into research material is mere 4.2%, while in a small country like Poland their utilization is 92%. In the US, their utilization rate is 72%, while even China manages it to an extent of 52%."

Link:
India lags in clinical research field: Dr Mishra - Times of India

July 10, 2017 Credit: University of Western Sydney

To help determine how stress is affecting animals across Australia, researchers at Western Sydney University are utilising non-invasive methods to help farmers, zookeepers and pet owners ensure their animals are happy and healthy.

Stress is an important biological response for animals as it helps their bodies prepare to fight or flee from danger. But many animals in the modern world are forced to coexist with humans in farms, zoos or homes, and the onset of chronic stress can have devastating results, both for them and their owners.

"Stress can affect the weight of farm animals, leading to losses for animal producers, and can disrupt the breeding patterns of endangered animals in captivity," says Dr Edward Narayan, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, from the School of Science and Health.

"Here at Western Sydney University we are working with clients to collect animal scats under routine husbandry and run them through our laboratories to measure stress levels."

When a stress result is sparked in an animal, the brain-body starts to release biomolecules such as cortisol, which is the main stress hormone in large animals such as humans, elephants and sheep. Ultimately, this cortisol is broken up by the kidneys, and ends up in excreta.

"By testing these scats, we can monitor and track animals from a distance and gain a snapshot and new understanding of their mood and health," says Dr Narayan.

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This research comes under the umbrella of conservation physiology, a rapidly expanding field of study that measures the physiological responses of organisms subject to human interference. While the traditional field of conservation biology seeks to manage the natural environment to help protect threatened species, conservation physiology is a way to improve the health and happiness of animals in contact with humans.

For animals, a life with minimal stress is linked to happiness, as high stress reflects fear and anxiety. In most cases, happiness for animals revolves around the daily needs for survival, such as securing food and shelter. By reducing stress among animals, scientists can help them redirect energy often used for survival to other uses, such as increasing fat reserves and reproduction.

"Considering human activity has pushed the world to the sixth mass extinction event, measuring the stress levels of native animals may help conserve their dwindling numbers by providing real-time data on species' physiological resilience and vulnerabilities towards anthropogenic induced environmental changes. By having access to this data, researchers are able to help direct conservation and management efforts towards at-risk species," says Dr Narayan.

The potential applications are vast, as the studies can be replicated across species living in different settings, from koalas in nature parks, to sheep in pasture, and even domestic animals in apartments. It also enables researchers to monitor population health during management interventions, such as species translocation and invasive pest species eradication programs.

"At the moment, we're working with sheep farmers in regional Australia to help monitor the physiological markers of their animals, with the ultimate aim of tracking their mood. By ensuring the sheep are stress free, we can improve their productivity in terms of meat quality and reproduction. In addition, we're also working with international animal rescue programs such as Animals Asia to provide crucial data on the stress physiology of Asiatic black bears being rescued from bile farms in Vietnam."

In addition to analysing scats, Dr Narayan and researchers at Western Sydney University also examine other samples, such as hairs and urine. The researchers are planning to utilise drone technology to help farmers in remote locations track their animals as they are moved across vast distances. The tests can even be ordered by domestic animal owners looking to track the stress responses of their pets.

"Cats and dogs are very prevalent in Australia, and are obviously affected by human behaviour. For example, a dog may be stressed if it's not provided with tender loving care, or a cat may be upset if it's not able to access a warm space in winter. What the non-invasive tests can measure is their stress responses over time, giving us baseline indicators of their mood and allowing us to intervene if necessary by pinpointing the moments of great stress in their lives, and working backwards to discover the cause."

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Stress testhow scientists can measure how animals are feeling - Phys.Org

Thirteen students graduated from East Mississippi Community Colleges Practical Nursing program in a ceremony Thursday night in the Lyceum Auditorium on the Golden Triangle campus. Wendy T. Gullett was presented with the Florence Nightingale Award, which is awarded to the student who most embodies the spirit of nursing. The Practical Nursing program is a 12-month course of study designed to prepare students to become licensed practical nurses. Students are taught nursing skills, nutrition, anatomy and physiology, human growth and development, pharmacology, maternal child nursing, emotional and mental illness, and medical/surgical nursing. In addition to the Florence Nightingale Award, three students received Clinical Excellence Awards for exceeding the expectations of their instructors. Those studentsare:Lea Chaffin, JaylinNealand Joy Veazey. The 2017 graduates of EMCCs Practical Nursing program are: Lea Chaffin of Hamilton;TamariaB. Clay of Brooksville; Wendy T. Gullett of Starkville; Luke Hodges of Cleveland; Kathryn Kisner of West Point; Chelsea Latham of Eupora; Jaylin N. Neal of Columbus; Edwin Phillips of Starkville; Joy Veazey of Columbus: Melanie Wallace of Amory;AlyscaWebb of Senatobia; Lauren Wilson of Columbus; and Breanna Yeatman of Starkville.

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EMCC practical nursing students graduate - Meridian Star

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The first annual conference on Coronary Imaging and Physiology by the Society for Coronary Imaging and Physiology began in the state capital on Saturday.Inaugurating the conference SCIP president Dr. C G Bahuleyan said advanced coronary imaging techniques enable accurate detection of heart ailments earlier and minimally invasive surgery with geometric precision. The latest technologies lower the healthcare cost and risks.

Apart from medical experts, organisations, hospitals, healthcare sector, health insurance industry and social service groups and residents associations should work to ensure the entire population has access to modern diagnostic and treatment technologies, he said. Expert cardiologists from India and abroad including faculty from different states, international faculty, scientists and experts in interventional cardiology attended the conference held at Hotel Leela in Kovalam. Major deliberations on pathbreaking medical technologies for diagnosis, superior treatment decisions and surgical interventions are being held at the conference.

Dr. Madhu Sreedharan, organising secretary spoke on the benefits of physiologic-guided cardiac treatments like Fractional Flow Reserve and Instant wave-Free Ratio and the advanced techniques of imaging of blood vessels from inside using Intra Vascular Ultra Sound and Optical Coherence Tomography.

Dr. Keith George Oldroyd, Professor, Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, explained various aspects of FFR technique. Dr Sayan Sen, Consultant Cardiologist, Imperial College, London, detailed the greater diagnostic flexibility and more choices offered by IFR.

International faculty and expert cardiologists Dr. Takashi Akasaka, Professor, Wakayam Medical University Japan and Xiu Jian Chen, Associate Chief Physician, Southern Medical University, China led scientific sessions. Dr. Karl Schultz, Professor of Cardiology, University of West Australia will lead the symposium on OCT in planning and optimising angioplasty on Sunday.

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Advanced coronary imaging techniques lower health risks: Experts - The New Indian Express

LSU AgCenter plans nitrogen fertilizer event

The LSU AgCenter will host the 15th Annual Nitrogen Use Efficiency Conference on Aug. 7-9 at the Lod Cook Hotel and Conference Center, 3848 W Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge.

The meeting is designed for individuals from academic institutions and agricultural companies. Focusing on the use of nitrogen fertilizer, presenters will include representatives from the LSU AgCenter, Auburn University, Oklahoma State University, Kansas State University, the University of Arkansas, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Register online at http://bit.ly/2rIpzZL at no charge.

Keep Louisiana Beautiful will hold its 14th annual state conference and Everyday Heroes Awards Banquet on Sept. 20-21 in Baton Rouge.

The event includes information on the impact of litter on the state economy, natural resources and public safety, and provides resources for establishing beautification programs and environmental education.

Topics include how to become a zero-waste family; creating a successful wildflower program; overcoming nature deficit disorder; marketing to millennials; establishing a citywide Christmas tree mulching program; environmental education; volunteer recruitment; Louisiana Recycling Coalition; and behavioral change and modification.

Exhibit opportunities are available. Registration is $125. To register, view conference details or nominate an individual or group for an Everyday Heroes Award, go to http://www.keeplouisianabeautiful.org.

LSU Agriculture Center entomologists received $935,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study honeybee health.

The AgCenter is one of seven universities to receive part of $6.8 million the USDA is investing in pollinators.

Kristen Healy and Daniel Swale are conducting research on how stress factors affect honeybees. They are working with researchers at the USDA Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge and the largest beekeeper in the country to do a two-year study following 400 hives.

Healys work focuses on mites and the pathogens they transmit. Swale is studying the physiology of bees, which could suffer from relocations.

The grant includes an extension component so the researchers can determine the best methods to get bee health information to beekeepers and the public.

The USDA estimates honeybees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops.

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Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette area Business Briefs for July 9, 2017 - The Advocate

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In July 2016, dressage competitor Sherbert the horse was having subtle and occasional lameness issues which owner Libby Gill said was "frustrating" because "one day, or literally one minute he would be fine, the next he would feel lame".

Lameness is an abnormal stance of an animal, usually caused by pain or a mechanical dysfunction. Sherbert suffered from it so badly during a competition at the Badminton Championships last year, that Libby and him were unable to continue despite the lameness being random.

Vets were unable to diagnose Sherbert because, when taken to the vet, he was not appearing lame. Libby was told she had to make Sherbert lame before the vet was able to help, but this was impossible as the lameness would occur on a random basis.

After a chance conversation with a friend Libby heard about Sync Thermology. A type of physiological screening that has been successful for humans for ten years and developed into a service that is accessible for use in veterinary medicine.

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Libby, from Truro, contacted Louisa Jenkins, from Camborne, the Cornwall technician for Sync Thermology.

"Thermography is essentially a test of physiology," Louisa said. "It measures the sympathetic nervous response and detects physiological abnormalities and inflammatory responses."

After consulting the vet Libby took Sherbert to Louisa, who has screening facilities in her yard with medically graded cameras also used on humans.

Louisa Jenkin, Cornwall technician for Sync Thermology.

"I took Sherbert to Louisa's yard as she has the proper facilities there to do it, and it only took about an hour and a half in total from start to finish," Libby said.

"I got the report back really quickly and it identified a few things for us to investigate. I am really pleased my friend mentioned this service to me as without it I might still be going around in circled trying to get to the bottom of it all."

Louisa said she screened Sherbert before and after letting him move around so the screen would show the physiological differences before and after work.

"You see the images and then send them through to our team of vets who interpret the images," Louisa added. "They are also trained in thermography and have interpretation software."

Read more: Man takes Cornish holiday park to court over 'filthy' chalet

The interpretation software allows the vets to pinpoint areas of distress or increased blood flow to certain areas of the animals.

She said pinpointing certain areas has helped vets in the past discover hairline stress fractures related to the area of increased blood flow in the animal.

Sync Thermology has been used on dogs, giraffes and other animals in the zoo. "There are technicians all over the country," Louisa said. "So it's pretty much a national coverage."

Louisa said this service was popular because of the little harm it brings to animals and the fact it is the only form of physiological screening which assists vets in pinpointing a problem.

After taking Sherbert to Louisa and having his issues resolved through the screening, the pair have since had a very successful Winter Dressage Championship in Hartpury in April this year. They were placed fourth in the Preliminary Area Festival Final.

"It was such a great weekend and fantastic experience," Libby said. "Sherbert was really on form and pulled it out of the bag just at the right time, I'm delighted."

Read more Cornwall news

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Screening technology used for humans a success for Sherbert the horse - Cornwall Live

FAYETTEVILLE Jamie I. Baum, assistant professor of nutrition for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has been named chair of the of the Nutrition Physiology Research Interest Group for the American Physiological Society.

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Excerpt from:
Baum named chair of APS Nutrition Physiology Research Interest Group - Newton County Times (subscription)

(Credit: Innerfire BV)

Take a deep breath. Feel the wave of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide press against the bounds of your ribcage and swell your lungs. Exhale. Repeat.

Before consciously inhaling, you probably werent thinking about breathing at all. The respiratory system is somewhat unique to our bodies in that we are both its passenger and driver. We can leave it up to our autonomic nervous system, responsible for unconscious actions like our heartbeat and digestion, or we can seamlessly take over the rhythm of our breath.

To some, this duality offers a tantalizing path into our subconscious minds and physiology. Control breathing, the thinking goes, and perhaps we can nudge other systems within our bodies. This is part of the logic behind Lamaze techniques, the pranayamic breathing practiced in yoga and even everyday wisdom just take a deep breath.

These breathing practices promise a kind of visceral self-knowledge, a more perfect melding of mind and body that expands our self-control to subconscious activities. These may be dubious claims to some.

For Wim Hof, a Danish daredevil nicknamed The Iceman, it is the basis of his success.

Now approaching his 60s, Hof has run marathons barefoot and shirtless above the Arctic Circle, dove under the ice at the North Pole and languished in ice baths for north of 90 minutes all feats that he attributes to a special kind of breathing practice.

You can easily try it for yourself. While sitting in a comfortable place, take 30 quick, deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Then, take a deep breath and exhale; hold until you need to breathe in. Inhale again, as deep as you can, and hold it for 10 seconds. Repeat as many times as you like.

Combined with repeated exposure to the cold, Hof says that his method will lead to tangible health benefits: more energy, lowered stress levels and an improved immune system. For him, it enables seemingly superhuman feats of endurance, brought on, he says, by the physiological changes that his breathing techniques impart.

(Credit: Innerfire BV)

Breathe properly, Hof claims, and oxygen levels in the tissues increase and adrenaline floods the body, granting strength that we didnt know we had.

If you oxygenize the body the way we do it, the oxygen gets into the tissue. [Regular] breathingdoesnt do that, he says. What happens in the brain stem, the brain says, There is no oxygen anymore. Then it triggers adrenaline to shoot out throughout the body. Adrenaline is for survival, but this time it is completely controlled the adrenaline shoots out throughout the body and resets it to the best functionality.

Hof speaks convincingly of the heightened mind-body connection his technique engenders, begging comparisons toa long tradition of semi-mystic practices such as pranayamic yoga, tummo breathing and breathwork.

Over the phone, Hof is loquacious and utterly convincing, perhaps fitting for a man who ran up Mt. Everest shoeless and shirtless, trusting only his breath. He touts the multiple scientific studies hes been involved with, while tossing mentions of mitochondrial activity, blood alkalinity and adrenaline in a flurry of scientific buzzwords.

Above all, he speaks of a more profound connection between mind and body that allows us to quell the primal desire to run from pain and fear or from the cold.

I found by deeper breathing, going into the cold, thinking about it, dealing with it; getting the conviction that my ability to breathe deeper is making connections with my body, he says. If you go into the ice cold you have to go deep. There is no other way. It is just bloody cold.

This mindset aligns with the core tenets of yoga and other practices that aim to grant us more control of our physiology. Breath control is at the center of many of these techniques, and the concept has worked its way into modern medicine as well.

Robert Fried is a clinical respiratory psychophysiologist who retired from the Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience Program at the City University of New York in 2010. Hes also written several books on how breathing is related to stress levels and our physiology. In his practice, Fried worked with individuals whose medical conditions made it difficult to breathe, such as COPD patients, as well as people whose lives or professions left them chronically stressed, and his methods essentially involve

The purpose of deep breathing is to induce a hypometabolic state, where autonomic and mental arousal are minimal.It is a resting, restorative state, a counter anxiety, counter stress response of the body induced by using the breathing that goes with relaxation to trigger a similar muscle response in the body, Fried wrote in an email to Discover.

Its slowing us down, in other words, to counteract the damaging effects that prolonged stress can have on our bodies effects that are well known and generally accepted. Fried and therapists like himhave used conscious breathing techniques, similar to those found in yoga, for years, and have achieved reliable success. Fried mentions that many of his patients felt rejuvenated after just a few minutes of conscious breathing with him, which sounds similar to what Hof promises.

(Credit: Innerfire BV)

We can achieve noticeable physical effects with other breathing exercises as well, although they are almost all short-term. The valsalva maneuver, which involves exhaling while closing the throat, quickly lowers blood pressure and raises the pulse, and is used to help stabilize patients suffering from heart arrhythmias. The Lamaze breathing used by many pregnant women has been shown to increase pain tolerance and aid relaxation, while there have been many reports of hallucinations and feelings of euphoria following hyperventilation.

Despite the daredevil publicity stunts and enthusiastic salesmanship, perhaps Hof isnt so far outside of the norm after all. Perhaps we should simplyview his techniques as radicalized version of yoga, albeit one thats practiced in the middle of a Scandinavian winter.

Still, sitting in an ice bath for an hour and a half is nothing to scoff at. But can we really attribute extreme feats of endurance to the kind of simple exercises we can do while sitting at the office?

The crux of the issue may come down to the question of how well we truly understand the inner workings of the human body. And, though he may edge into hyperbole while discussing myriad benefits of his techniques, Hof has also proven willing to offer himself up as a scientific test subject.

The first true scientific evaluation of Hof came in 2014, when a team led by Danish researcher Mathijs Kox tested the immune systems of people who had followed Hofs training regimen for 10 days. Kox injected participants with an inflammatory agent while they performed the techniques. Compared to a control group, they experienced lower levels of inflammation, and were less affected by the fever and nausea that usually accompanies the injection.

While the researchers still have no solid theory as to why breathing and cold exposure seem to dampen immune activity, they suggest that the release of adrenaline breathing sparks could play a role. The spike in adrenaline was linked to increased levels of an anti-inflammatory protein, and decreased levels of proteins, called cytokines, responsible for signaling the immune system.

Hof being tested. (Credit: Innerfire BV)

There are a few caveats to the study, however. For starters, Koxs team hasnt yet tested the different components of the Hof technique separately, so its hard to say if hyperventilation, breath holding, cold exposure or some combination of all three is at play. In addition, Daniel Beard, a professor of physiology at the University of Michigan points out that their study fails to determine whether the effects are short- or long-term.

None of these people have control over their blood pH or their breathing, except when theyre actually consciously doing this thing. Their heart rates are the same as the other subjects, their pressures are the same, he says.In other words, the life-altering physiological changes that Hof claims exist could only materialize for the short time during which participants are actively doing the exercises.

A true test of the Hof method would determine whether its effects persist, even when people arent consciously altering their breathing. Beard does agree with their fundamental conclusions though, and acknowledges that something is indeed going on in people following Hofs method.

Clearly these people have altered their physiological state this training has changed them, and its changed them in a way that has to do with the autonomic nervous system, he says.

The study lends scientific credibility to Hofs claims and adds credence to the idea that conscious breathing can allow us to influence deeper processes in our bodies. As is perhaps to be expected, Hof goes one step further, positing that the surge in blood alkalinity that accompanies hyperventilationallows us to consciously train our cells, and, theoretically, optimize their machinery. Neurotransmitters in our blood vessels communicate with our brains and cells to regulate blood pH levels something that normally occurs without any intervention on our part. Hof believes that by taking control of our breath we can force open a doorway into these normally unconscious processes and hijack them to optimize how our bodies perform.

This is a more controversial proposition, given that trying to alter blood pH is essentially pitting us against ourselves. When our blood becomes alkaline it violates homeostasis, the perfect balance of internal conditions that our bodies strive to achieve. Hof says this is a good thing. Modernity has made us soft, he asserts, and instead of becoming healthier weve instead achieved a kind of degeneracy. Dunking ourselves in icy waters and breathing like were being chased by a starving tigerbrings about a body more in union, he says, and claims this translates to real health benefits.

(Credit: Innerfire BV)

This is where Hof begins to step beyond the edges of modern science into the cold, as it were. There is really no evidence to suggest making blood alkaline, even temporarily, is a good thing, andresearchers like Fried were skeptical about the possible benefits. The veracityof other physiological mechanisms Hof claims, such as oxygenating the blood and stimulating the immune system with cold are also unproven.

How then should we reconcile Hofs feats with the apparent flaws in his logic? A cynical read says that hesan unnaturally gifted individualexaggerating the limits of normal human physiology to profit from hopeful individuals. But, science wouldnt get very far if it was dominated solely by cynics. Is it possible that Hof has stumbled across a quirk of human physiology, one with with the potential to illuminate previously unseen pathways within our bodies?

Count Andrew Huberman in as one of the optimists.An associate professor of neurobiology and opthamology at Stanford University, Huberman is currently conducting a study that exposes practitioners of Hofs method to fearful encounters via virtual reality to see if their minds and bodies respond any differently.

His research focuses on how our bodies react to stressful situations, and after stumbling across the Wim Hof method a few years ago, Huberman set out to attempt a scientific exploration of the technique. Hes taken courses from Hof himself, and he says the experience convinced him that the breathing techniques were worth a closer look.

Huberman makes it clear that he has no financial ties to Hof, although he has lectured with him. He is, however, an enthusiastic practitioner of the breathing techniques he does them every morning, he says and has developed a theory to explain the calming and mildly euphoric sensations that result. The essence of the techniques, Huberman says, is inoculating our bodies against the stress response. And, as before, adrenaline is the key.

Normally, when adrenaline goes up cortisol goes up too and the hypothesis that were testing is that when you do this method, what ends up happening is you get an increase in adrenaline, but that cortisol, because youre in conscious control of your state, youre remaining calm, cortisol stays relatively low, he says.

From his own experiences, Huberman thinks that the use of hyperventilation and controlled breath-holding maximizes the beneficial effects of our innate stress response, while suppressing the negative long-term effects of stress.

This is a highly unusual situation. Youre kind of uncoupling the normal parallel response of these two hormone neurotransmitters, he says.

Instead of eliminating stress entirely, Huberman thinks that we can learn to twist it to our advantage and condition our bodies to respond in a positive way.

Hes in the early stages of research at the moment, and his project includes a wide-ranging collaboration with other researchers to test a full spectrum of physiological responses. His goal is to perform the kind of testing that will stand up to the intense scrutiny that Hofss claims inevitably provoke.

Key for Huberman will be separating myth from fact. Some breathing techniques common to yoga and lamaze may not confer any benefits for our bodies, and could in fact harm them, according to Fried. Breathing often comes as part and parcel of a larger set of practices, and separating it into its constituent parts can be difficult.

The ultimate goal, says Huberman, is to come up with even better breathing protocols than already exist by examining a range of established practices. Breaking various methods apart to see what works and what doesnt is simply good science.

Indeed, the initial results of the Kox study may indicate that Hubermans adrenaline-cortisol theory may not be totally correct. They found that Hofs cortisol levels actually spiked during their tests, as opposed to dropping as Huberman predicted they should. They didnt confirm similar results in their other test subject though, so the correlation remains ambiguous. In fact, all we can really sayat this point is that this kind of breathing helps release adrenaline into our bodies.

The perplexing power that breathing holds remains a mystery for the time being, even as the quantitative might of the scientific method is brought to bear upon it. Promising research is ahead, however, and Hof and others already hint at the possible rewards.

These studies might end up confirming once and for all what practitioners of yoga and other physical and mental practices have known intuitively for years. It may be that the duality of breath at once automatic and controllable runs even deeper. Its not just our lungs that we can consciously grasp hold of, its our physiology as a whole.

All we have to do is find the handle.

[Disclaimer: Neither Discover Magazine nor any of the researchers interviewed here endorse the Wim Hof method. If you choose to follow the breathing protocols, you do so at your own risk]

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Can Breathing Like Wim Hof Make Us Superhuman? - Discover Magazine (blog)